Arwad Island

Twenty minutes by boat from Tartus harbour. The island is small — walking from one end to the other takes less than half an hour — but there is a town on it: houses pressed together, lanes barely wide enough for two people, and no cars, because they do not fit. In the Phoenician period it was a city-state of its own under the name Arados; the Crusaders used it as their last foothold in the Levant and gave it up in 1302.

Getting there

Boats leave the jetty on the Tartus corniche without a timetable; they go when they fill. The crossing is about twenty minutes. Ask the time of the last boat back as you board — they thin out in the late afternoon.

How long it takes

Three hours including the boat. An hour to walk the island; the rest goes at the harbour and the workshops.

What is there

White fishing and passenger boats moored in rows along the harbour. In the yards on the shore wooden boats are still being built; the moulds, the frames and the planking are all in the open. A castle stands in the middle of the island, used as a museum, and a smaller second castle sits by the water. Some of the wall stones are Phoenician and are recognisable by their size.

What most people miss

Go up to the castle terrace and look back. Tartus is visible whole from there, and only at that distance do you understand why an island so close to the mainland still feels like a separate place.